ASHP-Backed Provisions Included in New Medicare Bill

7/16/2008

Legislation that postpones a pay cut for physicians treating Medicare patients also contains ASHP-backed provisions regarding the use of drug compendia for coverage of unlabeled uses for Part B drugs.

Effective January 1, 2010, all compendia recognized for the unlabeled use of Part B drugs much have a “publicly transparent process for evaluating therapies and identifying potential conflicts of interest.” The legislation, which survived a presidential veto to become law, also requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to use the same process to revise its list of recognized compendia for Part D drugs that it recently adopted for Part B drugs.

In a series of discussions with congressional policymakers, ASHP highlighted the importance of transparency throughout the evaluation process as well as a well-established process in which potential conflicts of interest are clearly identified.

ASHP’s drug information publication, AHFS DI, is recognized in the statute as an official compendium for information on medically accepted uses of medications.